Down by the Seaside, Finnick and Annie fanfiction
by AndSheSaidReal
Summary: When the young and charming Finnick Odair is reaped for the 65th annual Hunger Games his world starts falling apart. When he's torn away from the woman he loves to fight to his death will he be able to fix his life in time to put it back together again or will his actions result it the people he loves being hurt? A fanfiction written in both perspectives of Finnick and Annie.
1. Chapter 1

_Fear; Its one of the only things in this crazy, messed up world that keeps people from being stupid, keeps them going, keeps them alive. But to much fear, its deadly. Thats what the Hunger Games is. It teeters on the brink of safe a savage fear and thats what some people find so amusing._

_My name is Finnick Odair and this is my encounter with fear, I hope you find it entertaining._

_**Finnick Odair**_

Its black and the world is spinning. I feel like Im falling but it starts to fade and I see the sun. Suddenly Im in a feild of beautiful flowers. All vibrant shades of diffrent colours. Im afraid to take a step to ruin one of them. A path clears and I see Annie. Shes sitting on the ground, picking the flowers, their in her hair and in her hands. I start running and she gets up and reachs out her hand. I try to reach her but she keeps slipping away, fading into the distance.

"No!" I yell and now Im awake. I sit up in my bed, breathing heavy. My brother looks over at me, still lying in bed across the room from mine. He shoots me a ridiculous face and we both laugh. I throw my legs over my bed.

"Another bad dream?" he asks "You woke me up again." he says and I can hear the fatigue in his voice.

"Im sorry" I say with actual guilt because I would be angry if it was him waking me up this early all the time.

"Its okay, but why don't you just ask her out?" he replies but Im confused. He watches my confused face and smirks.

"I heard you mumbling about Annie" he says and I feel embarrassed. I wonder what other things he's heard me dream about.

"Because, what if she dosent like me?" I say standing up from my bed "Then Im sentenced to forever ackweirdness, we could never be close friends after somthing like that." I say looking for a clean outfit to wear.

"I dont get it, wouldnt that be better then forever alone?" he says with a grin.

"Dont worry" I say as I pat his shoulder "It will come with age" I say jokingly and I finish getting dressed and we both go into the kitchen.

My mother is already in the kitchen making us toast and I grab two slices and throw them on a plate. My sister walks from her bedroom to the bathroom. Her blonde hair in a tangled, frizzy mess.

"Wow Percila" I say "Control that bed head you got there!"

"Shut up!" she says and closes the door.

"Why do you always have to pick on your sister?" asks my mother.

"Cause its fun" I say with a mouth full of toast and she comes back out from the bathroom.

"Oh good, I thought I was going to have to go borrow the peacekeepers whip to tame that beast of hair" I say pertending to have a whip.

"Ha ha" she says sarcasticaly as she sits in my chair and takes a bite of my other peice of toast.

"Um hello? Hi, my names Finnick, I dont beilive we've meet before but you seem to be sitting in my chair... and eating my toast." I say sarcastically waving my hand in her face.

"Oh, what a shame." she replies. I try to push her off the chair and she pushs me back and we start fighting. My father walks in from his room and heads for the fridge. He grabs a bottle of beer and heads for the living room.

"You two woke me up you know" he says as he takes a swig.

"Finnick started it" says Percila.

"Whatever" I reply. I sit in the chair beside her and we all start talking.

"So what do you guys have planned for today?" my brother asks.

"Well todays the reaping" I say and the house goes silent. Some people in district four look forward to the Hunger Games but my family dosent. We see through Panem's thinly veiled toucher. We all think its sick and wrong.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." says my sister. Then its quiet as well eat our breakfast. My father gets up to grab another beer but my mother puts her hand on the fridge door.

"Dont drink to many, we still have to go to the reaping later" she says. My father swips her hand off the firdge door and begins to mumble profanity. He grabs another beer and walks to the door. He grabs his jacket and opens it.

"Dont tell me what to do" he says and stumbles out the door. My mother looks upset and I break the silence.

"Well, Im going to that fancy store by the beach soon" I say. "Does anybody need anything?" I ask.

"Nope, nothing for me." says my mother. My brother shakes his head.

"Oh! I need you to go get me some ribbon for my hair!" says Percila.

"Yeah ok" I say and I stand up.

"But you have to make sure its blue!" she says as I go into my room to grab my money off my dresser.

"And it cant be that ugly shade of aqua either, it has to be blue!"

"Yup, got it!"I say and grab my jacket and open the door.

"Dont forget!" I hear her says and I walk out the door and shoot her a thumbs up.

I walk up the street and see Annie with her friend Shimmer talking with each other. I walk over but as soon as Im close enough I start running. I run up to her and give her a hug.

"Happy Birthday Annie!" I say as I hug her.

"Thank you Finnick!" she replies.

"Awh, you two look so cute together" says Erin and I shoot her a look. She makes a ridiculous kissing face and starts laughing.

"So how was your mourning?" I ask Annie and she smiles.

"It was great, Shimmer came over and we had a little party, and my little sister made me the cutest braclet." She says and sticks out her hand and theres a braclet wrapped around her wrist. Its got blue glass beads with the odd shell here and there strung with them.

"Its wonderfull" I say with a smile.

"Well I gotta' go do some stuff so Ill see you two later, ok?" I say starting to walking backwards.

"Sure Finn" says Annie "Ill see you later".

I walk around the block another time and buy myslef a muffin since I didnt get to eat all my toast and walk back to the store. A couple of days ago I was walking past the store and looked in the window. When I did, I seen this small box. I looked closer and its was a music box, brightly coloured with beautiful flowers like the ones in my dream. When I had first seen the box I was mesmerized by its beauty and the first person that came to my mind was Annie so I told myself that I was going to buy it for Annie for her birthday and today is her birthday so I must. I walk in and look at the box. I pick it up from the display in the window and hold it in my hands. Its so beautiful. A girl walks over to me and looks at it with me.

"Have you opened it yet?" she asks.

"No" I reply. She grabs the nob on the top of the box and lifts it open. The inside was even more beautiful then the out. A hand painted scene of a field covered in the flowers, with the sunset in the backround. The lyrics to the song that is playing is painted on the inside of the lid,

_Deep in the meadow, under the willlow,_

_A bed of grass, a soft green pillow_

_Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes_

_And when you wake, the sun will rise_

_Here it's safe, and here it's warm_

_Here the daisies guard you from every harm_

_Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true _

_Here is the place where I love you._

"Its amazing" I whisper as not to disturb the music.

"I asked the manager where they got it and they said that it was imported from district 12" said the girl. "I come here everyday to listen to it" she adds and I smile.

"Im going to buy it" I say as I bring it up to the cashier. I close the lid so whatever is powering it dosent die before I give it to Annie.

"Well, Im going to assume your not buying it for yourself so I hope the girl you give it to likes it" she says.

"Thank you" I say to her as she walks out the door. She turns back and gives me a smile then quickly walks out the door.

I buy the music box and as I walk out the store I remember about Percila's ribbon. I go back in and head to the back of the store. Purple, yellow, green, even that ugly shade of aqua she specifically asked not to purchase but no blue so I buy it anyways. I throw it into the bag with the box and I find Annie. I walk down the street and she still talking with Shimmer. I walk over and grab her hand.

"Come with me" I say smiling and genteelly pull her away and she does. Shimmer shoots me a wink and I can help but laugh.

"Where are we going?" asks Annie while shes laughing.

"Just wait!" I say. I put my hand over her eyes and lead her over to the beach and sit her on the ground. Shes laughing and so am I. I put the music box in her hands and take my hand off her eyes. She looks down at it is disbeilive. I sit down beside and look at it with her.

"Its beautiful Finnick" she says is shock.

"Here, watch when you open it." I say as I grab the lid and open it. The box strums out its high pitch tune and I can Annie's eyes are watering. She picks up the box and puts it in my lap.

"Its amazing Finnick" she says with a smile.

"Well, I hope you think so because I got it for you" I reply and put it back in her hands. "Happy birthday Annie".

"Oh, Finn" she says. She pulls me in forcfuly and holds me tight with a hug. I lean back and the wind blows her brown hair to her face. I push her hair away behind her ears and she puts her hand on my face. Its so cold. She leans in closer and millions of different things run throughout my head but then she kisses me and my brain stops. I stand up and reach out my hand to help her up and she gives me another hug. But this one is diffrent. She grabs me by my shoulders and puts her head in my neck. It feels more sincere then any other hug I've been given so I return the favor and hug her tight.

"Thank you" she whispers as we hug.

"Its no problem" I reply.

We both stand there and finally she talks.

"Well, I dont want to seem rude but I have to go get ready for the reaping" she says.

"No, its fine" I say with a smile.

"Really, because I ca..." I cut her off.

"No! Go get ready and Ill see you later" I say with a smile. I push her from behind untill were off the beach and were both smiling and laughing.

"So Ill see you later?" she asks anxiously.

"I promise" I say in reassurance and she walks away with a large smile with the music box in her hands.

I walk, almost run home. Im so happy but in other ways Im afraid. 'What does this mean? Are we dating now? Does this mean she likes me? I mean SHE kissed ME so she must. Or did she just do that to say thank you. Or the heat of the moment'. I ask myself millions of questions that can only be awnsered by her. Girls, their so complicated. Why cant they just be straight up and tell you these things instead of leaving guys wondering?

When I get home I open the door and Percila is standing almost right in the doorway.

"Did you get my ribbon?" she asks annoyingly. I throw the ribbon at her as I walk past and I can hear her freaking.

"No, no, you did NOT get me aqua!" she yells storming in my direction

"Look, it was the closest to blue that they had! You can even go check for yourself!" I say. She picks the ribbon off the floor and rushs into her room. She comes back out with her reaping dress and she holds the ribbon up to it.

"Does this look like it matchs to you?" she asks. The dress is a mutted shade of blue and the ribbon is a bright blue of a hole diffrent shade. Their completly diffrent.

"I think they match" I say and she looks at me.

"Here..." I pull her into the bathroom and take the ribbon. I part her hair into three and braid it down her back and tie the ribbon around the end in a bow. I pick up one of her hair clips that looks like a diamond and stick it in the middle of the bow.

"See? It looks fine" I say.

"Well, I guess" she says enthusiastically.

"It looks a-maz-ing!" I say pretending to take pictures with an imaginary camera.

"Okay," she says "Thank you" and she gives me a hug. She leans back from me and looks at me confused.

"You smell like perfume".

"Whatever" I say as I walk away but I cant help but smile.

I go into my room and get changed. I put on a nice striped dress shirt and my good pair of jeans. I come back out and sit on the couch with my dad who must have came back while I was gone. He looks at me with a smirk on his face.

"Whers your tie boy?" he asks me.

"I dont like wearing ties, they make me feel" I take a pause to think of the appropriate word "constricted" I tell him. Hes still looking at me with that weird smile and I get up to leave the awkwardness. He stands up with me and puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Good job with that girl today boy" he says patting my back.

"How did you know?" I ask him confused.

"Well," he pauses to take a drink from his beer "I seen the two of ya' kissin' by the beach. Shes a looker". I smile at him and then he sits back down. I go to walk away and he yells "Just dont get to friendly".

The bell sounds and a voice says "10 minutes until the annual reaping". My sister bursts out of her room in her blue dress and twirls. She looks amazing but I would never just say that.

"Well, I like the dress but Im pretty sure its the hair that pulls it all together" I say and she smiles. My brother comes out of our room and our mom comes out and grabs her jacket.

"Okay guys, lets get on the move" she says enthusiastically. We all walk over to the courtyard and its pretty full. I see Annie with her little sister. She gives her a hug and a peace keeper leads her over to her age group. Annie looks distraught. Its her sisters first year and I was upset too when it was my brother's. My sister walks over to her and they both walk together to their age group. I walk over to mine and my brother goes a little farther in front since hes younger. I stand there waiting for a while then the district escort walks to the stage.

"Hello, Im Evie Hedges, your district escort for this year!" she says in a peppy voice "Happy Hunger Games!" She talks and talks but all I can consentrate on is her looks. Her red hair, so bright it was un natural and lip stick to match. She was wearing an extremly tight dark blue dress and enourmously tall high heels. Her skin was so pail that it almost resembled plastic. 'What could possibly inspire a person to decorate themselfes in such a way? ' I think to myself and the anthum begins to play and they show the president explain the rules. Finally, Evie walks over the the female reaping bowl and sticks her arm in. Names fly past me. What if its Annie's sister? What if its my sister?! What if its Annie? I feel faint but I keep my balence. She grasps a name tightly in her hand and reads it out.

"Dawn Jeniter" she says. Everyone looks around and I find a group of girls all gasping and staring. Finally a girl starts walking toward the stage. Her long black hair blowing in the wind. Ive seen her before but where? Shes firmilliar. Then it hits me, shes the girl from the store I bought the music box. She walks to the stage and Evie congratulates her.

"Would anyone like to voulunteer for Dawn?" she asks. Nothing. No one but the wind willing to volunteer. She stares out to the audience pleading with her eyes. Her's meet mine and I give her a look of sympathy. I mouth the words Im sorry and she noods her head.

"Good darling, you look nice and strong" she says and tells her to go sit down. She looks like she might start crying but I can tell she wont. You have to look strong in front of the cameras or you wont get sponsors. Evie walks over to the boys reaping ball and Im still worried, not as much because if Kaitlyn had got reaped I wouldnt be able to do anything but if my brother gets reaped, at least I could volunteer. She sticks her hand down into the ball and swirls it around. She picks a name and pulls it up.

"Finnick Odair" she says. I look around then I realize thats me, thats MY name and Im suddenly dizzy. The world is spinnig. I walk into the pathway to the stage. Having to pass everyone I know. I look around at my brother. Hes holding tears. He looks at my with a face of guilt and I know he wants to volunteer for me. I shake my head. I look over to my right. I see Annie. Our eyes meet as I walk by.

"Finnick!" She screeams. "NO, you cant take him!" She jumps out from her spot and grabs my sleve. My sister is crying and I think I shed a tear but I wipe it away. The peacekeepers grab her by the arms and shes on her knees. Tears streaming down her perfect face.

"Please! Dont take him away!" She pleads with her face in her hands. I look up at the stage and back at Annie. I bend down on my knees and fix her hair. She looks up at me with her big sea green eyes and I kiss her on the forehead and give her a hug. She squeezes me tighly and my eyes are letting water out but Im not actually crying. Finally a peacekeeper pulls me up to the stage and they drag Annie back to her spot. I wipe the tears from my face and try to look as large as possible.

"Any volunteers?" asks Evie. All I can hear is Annie crying. Nothing, no one, nowhere. I try not to look up at the audience. I dont want to see my brother or sister or parents. Not now. I could be at risk of crying and I cant cry so I focus on a point out in the distance.

"Well, this will an exciting year for District 4 wont it?" she says but no cheers. Usually theres cheers for the tributes but none for us. I go and sit down with the girl from the store. What was her name? Dawn. She looks like a Dawn. Her long black hair blowing in the wind. Her bright blue eyes making it look even darker. She sits there, looking down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs as if shes bored but what eles can you do? Then it hits me. If were lucky, only one of us will die. If were not... no. I cant aford to think like this. I just need to stop where I am and, do what? I cant think. Then the ceremony ends and peacekeepers lead me and Dawn to the Justice building. They each bring us into our own room for us to have an hour to say goodbye. Now, now I can cry. I burst out into tears. My head in my hands, then I hear the door. I look up and I see my mother. I run up and give her a hug. Shes crying and so am I and then I see my father walk in behind her and I give him a hug. He smells of liquor but I still do. I hear him make a distorted noise and I go back and sit on the couch.

"Baby Im sorry" says my mother as I lean on her and she strokes my hair.

"I love you" she says and starts crying agian.

"Dont say that" I say quietly and I sit up.

"Im going to come home!" I say but they both still stair at me. I stand up. "I promise!" I yell.

"I know you will" says my father and pats me on the back. I see a tear run down his face and I hug him agian.

"You need to promise me you will be alright, Okay?" I say to both of them

"When you come home, were going to have a big party and I will order those speacial cookies you love," says my mother

"And Ill take you on a boat ride" adds my father.

"Deal" I say with a smirk and the peacekeepers come and take them away to soon. Then I sit back on couch and wait for the next person to come in. The door opens and my brother and sister walk in. Percila is crying and I can tell she has for a while because her face is red and puffy. I stand up and grab her and hug her tightly. She just stands there.

"Your going to come home right?" she asks.

I whisper "I promise" and she hugs me back. I look down at my brother and hes just staring into space. I bend over a little so me and him are face to face.

"Listen," I say "I love you both okay?" I say looking up at Percila and they both smile. "Dont you touch my stuff while Im gone okay?"

"Sure" he says and I hug him.

"Just look at it as some sleep without interruption" I say with a smirk and he smiles. "I love you" I whisper to him and he smiles. I sit back on the couch and Kaitlyn sits beside me.

"Here,"she says "take this" she takes out the clip from her bow and undose her hair and gives me the ribbon. She sticks the clip back in her hair and it looks ever better with her dress then the braid did.

"Thank you" I say and clutch the ribbon in my hand. Then the peacekeeper comes in and takes them away as well and I sit on the couch for a while before my last visitor comes in. Annie. She bursts through the doors and grabs me tightly. I stand up with her clinging to me still and hug her back. 'Wow, from friend zone to three hugs and a kiss in one day' I think.

"Finn Im sorry!" she pleads. I push her slightly back so I can see her face.

"Annie, none of this is your fault." I say in a calm voice. I sit back down on the couch with her, still holding her in my arms.

"But I could have helped you and..." I cut her off.

"Annie!" I say louder "Im going to come home" I say "for you" I say and place my hand on her check and her inflamed face lights up with hopefulness. She looks up at me and strokes her hand through my hair.

"Ive always wanted to do that" she tells me with a smile. I grab her neck and pull her in close and put my head on her shoulders.

"Im going to come home for you" I whisper to her. She crawls closer to me, almost on my lap and pulls out her wrist. She takes off her braclet her sister made her for her birthday and puts it on my wrist.

"For you" she says and I smile.

I pull up my hand with my sisters ribbon on it and show her.

"Can you tie this on there for me?" I ask her and she does.

"Thank you" I tell her. She turns more to me and now is on my lap and puts her hand on my shoulder and she kisses me. This time I kiss her back and put my hands around her waist. She puts her head im my shoulders and we wait for the peacekeeper to come. We just sit there. Together. Then she says it, the thing that breaks me.

"I love you" she whispers in my ear.

That did it. I start to cry again and she comforts me with hugs. Thats all she can do.

"I love you too" I tell and her eyes start to weal with tears. This time I grab her and kiss her and then the peacekeepers come in. She stands up and I hug her again tighter then ever and she walks away. She looks back at me and I throw her a smile, a real, happy smile, like nothing I have actually done before and she does too.

Another peacekeeper comes in after and takes me away. Im back with Dawn and she looks like she did before. Unlike me who probably looks red and inflamed from the crying. Evie escorts us to a car and she gets in with us and a couple of other people we leave. I leave everything Ive ever did and everyone I have even know in district 4. The car ride is short and when we walk out I can still smell the sea so we cant be that far from district 4. We get out from the car and board a large train. When I step on Im greeted by many funny dressed capitol people. Some of their outfits almost made me laugh.

"Okay" says Evie "This Samuel, he is going to be your designer" she explains in a peppy attitude. He's a shorter man, with short hair, almost bald. He's got a short scruffy beard, almost like he hasn't shaved in a couple of days and he dosent wear much makeup like the other people on the train. Just yellow lipstick. Although he isn't the most perfect man when it comes to facial feature position, his tanned skin is perfect. He shakes my hand and gives me a sympathetic smile.

"I see potential in these two" says Evie to him and he smiles.

She introduces some more people that I shake hands with and she shows us around the train. We get to the television room and theres an older woman sitting in a chair, she's maybe 60 and extremely short and small. Age has taken an obvious toll on her body but she still looks healthy.

"Maggie" says Evie and she turns around. "This is Maggie who will be your district mentor, she was the last person from your district that won the Hunger Games" Evie explains. 'Wow,' I think 'district 4 must really suck in the Hunger Games department if she was the last person that won'. She stands up and shakes both our hands.

"My name is Maggie" she says "but a prefer Mags" she says slightly louder as if to make Evie listen but shes in her own world. I smile and so does she. Now to think about it, I think I have seen her around district four a couple of times but Ive never really talked to her. She sits us down and we talk about things.

"So, whats your talent boy?" she asks.

"Well, um..." now that I thought about it, I dont really have a talent.

"Im pretty funny a guess" I say as last resort.

"If only you could heckle someone to death" she says and I can tell she's got her own sense of humor. I smirk and she smiles back.

"Well, I can tie some good knots" I say.

"Thats good" she says" Your going to be good in the snare training" she adds.

"What about you girly?" she asks Dawn.

"Im pretty good with knots too" she says.

"Anything else?" she asks.

"My father used to de-bone the fish so I know how to use a knife" she adds.

"Oh, that will be put to good use" says Mags. The television flicks on and its the reaping of all the districts. District one flashes on and both tributes are volunteers. Then 2 and 3 and finally 4.

"Oh look! Its district four" says Evie and she walks into the room. "Dont I just look darling in that dress?" she asks but no one answers. I see Dawn get reaped then me. When they call my name I look dazed and I almost trip multiple times on the way to the stage. Then Annie freaks out and we have our moment and I walk up. You can tell I cried and it made me look like a wimp. The other tributes must be putting me on their kill list right now. Then 5 and 6 go by, nothing special. In 7 a young boy is reaped and what looks like his brother volunteers and hes very large. 8 and then 9 and 10. In 11 a girl is reaped and then a boy volunteers after her. And 12 is normal then its over and the television is switched off.

"Well, I would say district 4 was the most dramatic" says Mags with a grin. I know she means what happened with me and Annie and then I become upset. 'I need to get home for her' I think.


	2. Chapter 2

**Annie Cresta**

My legs shake as I walk from the room. I want to just turn around and run back into Finnick's large arms. Him holding me in his grip makes me feel so safe but all that is torn away from me the minute I realize this because its to late. I was stupid and never told him how I felt and now its all broken.

The peacekeepers lead me out of the justice building and my younger sister awaits me. I quickly swop down into her arms and hug her tightly.

"Its gonna be ok Annie" she says and I hug her tightly, now begining to cry. My lip quizers as I try to talk.

"Thank you" I tell her and she gives me a remorseful smile. I stand back up straight and hold her hand as we walk back to our home. Our father must have already retreated to his room because when we arrive, the house is quiet. I exhale loudly to emphasize my anger but don't say anything. After my mother died a year ago he's never been the same. He almost never leaves his room. He goes to work on the boats every mourning then comes home to his room. During the winter he only leaves occasionally for meals but even then, he usually does it when were all asleep. He's depressed but he could never admit it. It makes me angry some days, that Im left to care for my younger sister but I cant stay angry forever. Whats done is done and I have to move on.

I quickly burst into the living room and sprawl out on the couch. I rest my hand on top of my forehead and think. My sister soon sits down beside and I look over at her and she looks upset. I sit up from and wrap my arms around her and hug her tightly.

"Don't be sad" I tell her and she smiles and hugs me back. I lean back and a tear runs down her face. I wipe it away with my thumb and she smiles.

"You really do like him dont you?" she asks with a sniffle and I smile.

"I do" I tell her quietly "But" I say continuing myself and laying back down on the couch "I messed it all up!" I say throwing my hands into the air for emphasis. I just want to break down crying but I have to stay collected for my sister.

"I messed it all up" I say more quietly, putting my hands over my face.

"Dont worry. He'll come home." she says sincerely and I raise my hands from my face to see her.

"But what if dosent?" I ask her quietly feeling tears rising again. She moves herself closer to me and I sit up and wrap my arm around her shoulder.

"But he will" she says "I know it" she says more quietly and I hug her tightly and begin to cry. Even though she's the younger sister, she makes me feel safe and keeps me sane. She's the one I go to when there is no Finnick, and right now, their could be a good chance Ill never have him again.

**Finnick Odair**

I think about Annie. What is she doing right now? Is she still crying over me? I hope she isnt. I told her Im going to come home, that should have made her feel better right? Well, you can tell someone your going to come home all you want but that dosent mean you will. I look back up at Mags and shes look at me with her small smile I've come to enjoy.

"Its tough right?" she asks but its more of a statement because she knows what it feels like.

"Yeah" I say but its so quiet Im surpirsed she heard me.

"You know what you need boy? Some good sleep" she says with a smile "The beds on these trains are like nothing you have ever slept on". I give her a small smile and she gives me one back. Ding ding. I hear a small bell ring from somewhere.

"Dinner time!" says Evie and we all stand up. I start to walk but my legs feel so numb. I manage to walk from the television room to the dinning room and everyone sits down. I see a girl, about my age but small with bright red hair walk in with a enormous plater of food. She looks like she's struggling to lift it high enough to get it on the table so I help. She smiles and I smile back and Evie shoots me a look.

"Finnick! Your not supost to do that, its their job! Thats why their here" she says and points at the girl. She looks down at the ground and then walks back to the kitchen to get more food. Even though Evie told me not to I help her bring in the rest of the food and Evie avoids me for the rest of the night. I finish with helping her and she gives me a small smile and Mags talks.

"Come sit down now boy" she says and I do. "So how would you two like this to be done?"

"What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"Well, would you two like to be trained together or separately?" she replys as if I should have know what shes talking about.

"Oh, sorry, this is kinda my first Hunger Games so..." I say with a smile but Dawn looks at me with a face of disgust.

"I would like to be trained sepratly" says Dawn.

"Oh, well thats fine with me. Finnick?" asks Mags.

"Well, if you insist" I say but I feel slightly disappointed. Why wouldnt she want to be trained with me? I ponder this in my mind through out the whole dinner. Finally its finished and Evie tells us where our rooms are and me and Dawn walk together. We get to the hallway and I ask.

"So, why did you want to be trained separately?" I say.

"I dont know" she replys in a low, quiet tone.

"I know you know because if you didnt know then you wouldnt have said that" I say and slightly laugh over the fact I said 'know' three times.

"Thats why!" she says louder and scares me. "You come over as a guy that takes everything as a big joke!" she yells. I just look at her.

"Im sorry but, I need to get home" she says more quietly. She opens her door to her room and goes in. Im left alone in the hallway still looking where her face was. Is that true? I need to get home too. Im sure everyone does but I HAVE to, for Annie. I go into my room and its extremly large with an enormous bed. I change my clothes into what ever was inside the first drawer of the dresser and sit on the bed and think. 'This will be the first time I havent slept with my brother' I think and slightly laugh from the way I worded the thought. Then it hits me. It is true. Im taking this as a big joke. I dont think about it that way though. I want to get home but I just cant deal with sadness of being away from it. Thats how I deal with things, jokes. I lay down in the bed and look up at the ceiling. 'Why me' I think. 'Why didnt anyone voulnteer for me? Almost every year someone volunteers for district four but no, not for me'. I keep thinking and slowly drift into sleep. Im back in the feild with the beautilful flowers. I feel happy but then I see Annie. Shes crying with the flowers inside her hands. She picking the petals off the flowers. Every time she picks one I feel a shoot of pain. I run over to her but I cant reach her. Then the flowers turn into little monsters. I kick them off my feet and there running for Annie.

"No!" I scream. I throw the covers off me and sit up in bed. Im sweaty and breathing hard and my heart is beating a million times a second. I go to stand up but I end up falling out from the bed.

"Uh" I groan and rub the arm I fell on. I hurts so I attempt to stand up but I cant seem to muster enough strength so I sit on the floor. I lean agianst the bed and grab my blanket off it and slowly start to fall back asleep.

"Time to wake up!" I hear Evie say and I slowly gain conciseness. A man opens my door and I realize its Samuel.

"Rough night?" he asks and reaches his hand out to help me up.

"Yeah" I say and grab it.

"Same, I cant really sleep on the trains, I feel like Im moving and I just cant get used to it." he says.

"So, lets make you look fresh" he says and sits me down in a chair. He pulls out a large bag and un zips it and it unfolds to many levels.

"Wow" I say in surprise to how large it unfolds to.

"I know right?" he says with a smile. "Close your eyes" he says. I do and then I feel him put somthing cold under my eyes.

"Just to get rid of those bags" he explains and I smile. I feel him put more things over my face.

"Okay" he says "open your eyes. I do and then he turns the chair around and I see myself in the mirror. I look perfect. My skin is all one shade, my few freckles I had from the sun are unnoticeable. Even the small scar under my eyebrow I had from a freak fish hook accident is gone.

"Thats great" I say and touch my face as to make sure its real.

"Why thank you" he says and takes a small bow. I smile and so does he. I can tell already that he not like the other people here.

"Okay" he says "put these clothes on and meet everybody in the dinning room" he says and hands me a shirt and pants. I put them on as he asked and go into the dinning room. The clothes he gave me were a blue shirt with black pants and when I go into the dinning room I realize Dawn is wearing the same colour dress.

"Well you two look dazzling" says Evie with a large smile.

"Thanks to Samuel" I say and he smiles.

"Well today is a big, big day!" she adds "Were going to be arriving in the Capitol today and you need to look your best". We all eat breakfast and its much better then my usual toast, but then I think of home. How just yesterday I was with them having fun and now, Im here. I eat quietly and soon we arrive.

"Come look" says Mags gesturing toward the window and I get up and look. There are enormously tall buildings and the streets are covered with people. Their waving and screaming and I wave back a couple of times. All of them are dressed ridiculously and some actually make me laugh. The train stops and Evie has us walk out. Cameras are flashing and the peoples deifying screams hurt my ears. How could we be such a big deal? We finally make it into the building and the once the doors shut everything is quiet.

"Wow" I say and Evie looks at me with a large smile.

"Everyone here loves the Finnick Odair" she says "and his lady" she adds and I think about Annie agian. I think my face turned from happy to upset instantly because Evie stops smiling. We all walk into the elevator together and its silent. I watch the numbers as they sore higher and higher 30, 40, 50, 57. Thats where we stop.

"Okay! This is our floor!" says Evie as the doors open to a large room. I walk in and the first thing you see is the amazing veiw of all the extremely tall buildings lit up for the day. The colors of the lights dancing off the water from a nearby river.

"Wow!" I say as I spin around to see the whole veiw.

"Yes, I thought that the veiw of the water would make you two feel more" she pauses for a correct word "comfortable" she says with a large smile.

"Thank you Evie" I tell her and her impossibly large smile become even bigger and I laugh.

"So tommorow is your training with the other tributes" says Mags as I become comfortable on a large fluffy couch "I want each of you to fit in as many stations in as you can, every single one is going be put to use in the arena".

"Sure" I say but Im concentrating more on the amazingly soft pillows.

"Finnick!" she yells and my head quickly turns to face her "You need to take this seriously". she says and she looks upset.

"Im sorry" I say quietly and I can feel tears starting to come "I just, I cant think about this! I dont want to!" and I become as upset as I was when I was reaped. Dawn is sitting on the opposite chair and she seems upset as well.

"Look guys" say Mags as she pulls up a chair closer to us so she can talk to our faces "I was in the same position you two were, and I dont know how or why but I made it out" she begins " and every year since Ive had to do the same things Ive done with you to every other pair of tributes, but this year, I faith in you. You two, your diffrent" she says and looks up at me.

"Why do you want to go home?" she asks Dawn.

"For my sister" she says quietly.

"What about you?" she asks me.

"For Annie" I say "I have to get home for her and my sister and my brother and parents" I say louder.

"Good" she says "As long as you two dont forget that, your going to come home".

"Lunch time!" yells Evie and Dawn gets up. Mags still sits beside me.

"I have faith in you" she says quietly to me and pokes me in the chest and gives me her signature smile. I smile back and we both get up and I give her a hug.

"Thank you" I whisper to her and we go and eat lunch.

All during lunch Evie goes on and on about how all the people in the Capitol love this years tributes. I guess theres one boy in district 1 who is apparently one of this years favorites.

"Of coarse, Finnick is what ALL the girls are talking about" she says happily. How could they love me so much if they seen me with Annie? That would give it away that Im kinda with her, right? I blow the idea off and just eat. I dont want to think about her or I could become upset.

"And theres a boy in district 6 who looks very strong" she adds. Thats the boy that volunteered for what looked like his brother.

"And apparently theres some start crossed lovers In district 11" she says with a smile "Its going to be very exciting year". Lunch ends and I feel extremely tired. I want to go take a nap but Mags insists I dont because of tommorw so I wander around the hotel. I go into the elevator and stare at the many buttons and finally decide to go to one that reads 'roof'. It speeds me up in a matter of seconds and I walk out. Its an amazingly sunny day and I wish I could be at the beach, with Annie. I remember one day we went to the beach together. She didnt know how to swim for the longest time but that day I cracked her and she let me teach her how, after that she couldnt get enough. We swam and played games and after we sat together on this one large rock and sun dried ourselfs. That was the fisrt time we kissed. It was about three mounths ago. We were sitting on the rock talking and we started fighting over somthing I dont remember. I picked her up over my shoulder and carried her over to the water, her kicking and laughing and threw her back in the water and jumped in after. She stuck her head out from the water and she just looked so beautiful so I kissed her. She looked back at me with her big green eyes and told me she had to leave and left me in the water. Thats why I was so worried if she didnt like me or not. All of our memories, they all relate back to the the seaside. On the beach where we grew up together. Memories stroll through my mind...

I snap back into reality and Im sitting on the roof up agianst a large pipe. I look down at my hands and realize Im still wearing Annies braclet. I take it off and roll the beads in between my fingers and smile.

"For you" I say and put the braclet back on and head back down stairs. When I return back Evie is in a panic.

"I dont know where he is b... Oh, there he is! Never mind!" she says and hangs up the phone.

"Finnick!" she says "We were looking all over for you! Its dinner time!"

"Really?" I reply shocked. I look at the clock behind me and It reads 5 oclock. Wow, I was up there for 5 hours. I look down at my arms and Im sun burnt. 'Great. Finnick Odair, the district 4 tomato' I think.

I sit down at the table beside Mags and she looks at me.

"Good Lord boy, where have you been?" she asks surprisinly "An oven?" I smile at her and she smiles back.

"I went up on the roof after lunch and just, blacked out the world" I answer.

"Yeah, somtimes you just have to do that" she replys. Dinner was strangely quiet and I was starting to become worried but soon it ended and I returned to my room to get ready for bed and take a nice warm shower. I walk to my room and grab the nob but it dosent open. I try agian but it still dosent budge. I go back to the dinning room and talk to Evie.

"Evie!" I say and she turns to me "My door to my room wont open".

"Oh, those darn doors, Ive been having trouble everywhere with them, Ill go get the mechanic to go take a look at it for you".

"That would be great" I say and give her a smile. I go back to the hallway where our rooms are and theres already a man playing with the door nob.

"Hows it coming?" I ask.

"Well, I think it will take a while to get the automatic lock fixed so you wont be getting in there for a bit" he replys.

"Is there anywhere else I can take a shower around here?" I ask.

"Yeah, you can just go into the room over there" he points to Dawn's room "theres a bathroom in there too". I open the door and I start to feel strangely guilty. 'I shouldnt be in here' I think but I do anyways. I walk fully into the room and start for the bathroom. I walk to the bathroom door but somthing catchs my eye. I look down at the dresser and theres a beautiful locket placed on the top. I pick it up and open it and theres a picture of Dawn inside. She's smiling and hugging a smaller girl that looks just like her. 'That must be her sister' I think. I close the locket and place it back on the dresser. I feel dizzy agian. I cant deal with this, Its to much. I sit down on her bed and try to regain my balance when she walks in.

"What are you doing here?" she asks loudly.

"Im sorry! My door wasnt working so the man told me to take a shower in your room but I got dizzy and had to sit". Her eyes look over at the dresser and she sees the locket is in a diffrent place.

"You were looking through my stuff!" she yells running over to her dresser and grabbing the locket.

"No! I just looked at the picture in your locket! Im sorry!" I yell back and put my hands over my face.

"Im sorry" I say quietly.

"Its okay" she says and sits beside me on her bed. She puts her hand on my back and I look back at her. Shes crying and I think I might to but I dont.

"So how did the girl like that music box?" she asks me.

"She loved it" I say with a small smile.

"I knew she would" she says. "Did you give it to that girl at the reaping?" she asks

"Yeah" I say "Her name is Annie" I add with a small smile.

"Thats a beautiful name" she adds.

"I love her" I say and she gives me a smile.

"I could tell" she replys.

"Well" I hear from outside the room "I think I got it!" I walk out from her room and I can see my door is open.

"Thanks" I say and shake the mans hand.

"No problem" he replys and walks away. I turn back to Dawn's room but the door quickly shuts so I into mine. I change my clothes and jump into my bed. Im to tired to take a shower now. What I said to her, it just finished me. I need to sleep. I sit back and put my head on my pillow and lie there. Im extremly tired so I toss and turn and eventually find a spot I feel comfortable in and fall asleep.

Im on the beach, with Annie. She sits there with the flowers still in her hair.

'I love you Finnick' she says.

'I love you to Annie' I try to say but the words dont come out. I try agian but still nothing. She looks at me with those big green eyes and gets up to walk away.

'No!' I scream 'I love you!'

She walks away and I try to go after her but I cant move. I toss and turn but I cant stand up.

"Come back Annie!" I yell and now Im awake. I sit up and my face is wet with tears. I wipe them away and try to stand up but then fall back down. I lie on my knees on the floor, crying.

"I cant do this" I say with my head in my hands.

"I cant!" I scream and Im pretty sure everyone is now awake. I slide from my knees and sit on the floor and lean agianst my bed. I start throwing my head back, smashing it agianst the bed frame. "I cant do this" I continue to mumble and finally somone comes in. A man, maybe. I cant see that well from all the tears. He helps me up onto my bed and sticks me with a needle and then everything goes black.

I wake up agian, much later bacause I can see light though the curtains unlike the blackness of before. I try to sit up but my hands are tied down. I struggle to get them free but its no use. I throw my head back to my pillow and it hurts horribly. I cry out in pain and a man comes in. No, I know this man. Its Samuel.

"Hows it going?" he asks me quietly. I dont awnser him, not because Im mad but Im still dazed and cant seem to speak.

"Yeah, you might feel like that for a bit" he says and sits down on my bed beside me.

"This isnt a good habit to be getting into" he adds with a smile and I think I do too. He un buckles my hands and helps me sit up. I have a horrible headache and he gives me some pills to control it.

"Well, you might be stoned but we still have to get you ready for the chariot ride into the training center today!" he says and grabs my arm to help walk over to the chair to do my makeup. He looks down at my arm and makes and odd surprised noise.

"What have you done to yourself?" he asks then I realize that hes talking about my sun burn and I laugh. He smiles and sits me down in the chair.

"So I have an amazing outfit for you to wear today" he continues as he tilts my head bakward "Close your eyes". I do and he puts more stuff on my face.

"As your designer, I have to create and outfit that represents your district and I believe" he takes a pause to put more cream on my face "you will love it" I hear him say. He continues putting things on my face and my head begings to hurt agian. Then I can feel him putting things on my arms and on my legs, most likely to heal the sun burn.

"Alright, you can look now". I open my eyes and Im greeted by an amazing handsome boy. My skin is perfect, almost fake, and isnt burnt. The color though, it almost has a blue shade, just barely but its noticable. My lips look slightly yellow but it makes them look amazing.

"Wow" I say "I look amazing".

"Just wait untill you put on the outfit" says Samual. He helps me take off my clothes and put a water blue body leotard. It fits perfectly, not to tight, not to big. It reachs up to my neck and down to my feet. He helps me get into a pair of darker blue boots and gloves to match. I look in the mirror and now I look like a man.

"One second" he says and darts behind me. He plays with somthing on the back of my suit and then it lights up. Not just one shade of blue but all diffrent shades with streaks that look like the sun glaring off the water.

"I was inspired by the colour of the water when the sun is out and its wavy" he says with a smile.

"This is amazing" I say quietly with a grin.

"Just doing my job" he says with a smile "Oh, wait" he goes and grabs somthing from his large bag.

"Here" and puts Annies braclet on my wrist over my glove.

"Thank you" I say and give him a hug. Im still a little dizzy so he helps me walk out to the dinning room and I see that Dawn is wearing the same clothes just in a tight fitting dress. Her hair cascades down her shoulders and mixs in with the water colors of her dress. Her makeup is the same as mine but she wears dark blue eyeshadow that slowly fades back to her skin. She looks stunning.

"Oh my! You two look dazaling!" exclaims Evie as she walks in and I smile. I sit down and eat breakfast and it makes me feel a whole lot better.

"So are you excited for today?" asks Evie.

"Yeah, I guess" I tell her.

"You should be! Your going to be the talk of the city!" she adds. I cant help but laugh over how enthusiastic she is all the time, I hope she realizes what the games actually are. Breakfest ends and we all get ready to go to the training center.

"Here" says Samuel and hands me and Mikayla long coats "We dont want people to see your outfits now!" he says with a smile. I take it and put it on and we all head for the lobby. Theres a large group of people standing in front of the building and I brace myself for the screams. Evie opens the door and it hits me like a wall. All the screams of the people immediately make my head throb. I walk out the door as it gets worse and stumble backwards and Samuel catchs me.

"Its okay, were almost there" I hear him say and he guides me to the car. My head is pownding and it wont stop. I take more pills but still nothing helps.

"Why does my head hurt so bad?" I ask him once were inside the car.

"You were banging it off your bed for probably 20 minutes before I came in last night to see what you were doing" he says.

Really? Was it that long? It only felt like a couple minutes but I was so tired and distraught, I could have done anything and not have remembered. We arrive at the training center and more screaming people greet me and my headache but Samuel helps me get to the door. I hope theres nothing mentally wrong with my head, this could set me back in the games if it continues.

We walk into the large room filled with horses and I see other people. 'They must be the other tributes' I think. They all look so, angry. My hand is on the back of my head and Samuel is helping me to walk. I must look like an easy target.

"You two stay here and Ill be right back" he says and leaves me and Dawn beside our chariot and horse. I girl walks over, not another tribute, and starts petting the horse.

"Their beautiful creatures arnt they?"

"Yeah" I say and start petting it with her.

"Oh, Im sorry, my names Deluis, Deluis Manteso" she says and extends her hand for a shake. "I take care of the horses" she adds.

"Hi, Im Finnick, Finnick Odair" I say. She sticks her hand inside a bag shes carrying and pulls out a sugar cube and feeds it to the horse.

"Here, do you want to try?" she asks. She gives me a handful of sugar cubes. She looks down at her watch and looks surprised.

"Oh! I have to go!" she says "Have a great day!" she adds and runs away leaving me with a handful of sugar cubes. I look down at them and back at the horse and give one to it. Samuel comes back and clips somthing to the back of our outfits.

"There we go" he says and looks at my hand "Oh yes! I heard sugar cubes are good for controlling headaches" he says and pops one in his mouth.

"Their also pretty delicious" he adds with a smile. I pick one up with my other hand and throw it in my mouth. I must have made a funny face beause Samuel starts laughing.

"Okay" he says and flicks on the suits were wearing "now just try not to fall off the chariots" he says with a smile. He helps me and Dawn on to the chariots and its higher up then I imagined.

"Dont forget to smile!" he says and the horses start to move. The large doors start moving apart and I can hear the crowd roaring. I skwint my eyes to try and block out the sound and eat another sugar cube but it still hurts. I start to stumble off and Dawn grabs my arm.

"Keep your balance" she yells strictly over the audience. I hold her hand tightly to help keep me from falling and she trys to pull away.

"What are you doing?" she yells

"Im going to fall!" I yell and she holds me up and grabs my hand and suddenly were in front of thousands of people. 'oh no' I think. I throw the rest of my sugar cubes in my mouth and try to smile. I probably look ridiculous but its worth a try. I wave with my free hand and the people go crazy. I look behind me and the two district 5 tributes give me a dirty look. 'Okay, no more turning around' I think. Finally all of the ditricts are in and the horses stop at their places. I see the president walk to the stage and congratulate all the tributes on their bravery. 'Well, its not like we have a choice' I think. He goes on about what an honor it is to be a part of this and other horrible things that he trys to turn to happiness. Finally its over and the horses start to move agian and bring us back to where we were originally when I see a camera that was filming the tributes go back into the room and I think 'this is my time'. When our chariot approaches the camera I wave to it with my arm Annies braclet is on and mouth the words 'I love you'. In district 4 its mandatory to watch this type of stuff so I know Annie seen me and I hope she knows its for her.

**Annie Cresta **

My sister and I both walk from our house together to the court yard to watch the chariot rides. I tryed to convice my father to walk with us be he insisted on going alone. I didnt want to fight with him so I just agreed and left with my sister. Hes so stuburn somtimes.

We walk down the busy streets of district four together, holding hands. I remember last year me and Finnick walked and watched the chariot rides together. When district four actually came on we both laughed. They both looked ridiculous. They were dressed as brightly colored tropical fish. It was a big joke, but it was our joke. Somthing we both recall back on and laugh. I miss those days, where we would just side around and talk about funny things that happened before. Hes only been gone for two days and I already miss him. Of coarse, Ive missed him since the second he left. The longest Ive been away from Finn was... maybe a day, maybe. Its crazy how you never realize who much you'll miss a person until their gone.

We walk into the court yard and a large screen is still set up from the reaping. Its almost all full but we manage to squeeze into a good spot to watch. Everyone in district four treats me differently now. Like Im important when Im really not. They probably feel bad for me, but they shouldn't. I haven't lost Finnick yet and I dont plan on it.

The screen flicks on and they show Cladius Templsmith and Ceaser Flickerman talking about this years tributes and I listen carefully for any mention of Finnick.

"This year is going to be quite entertaining, dont you agree?" asks Cladius and Ceaser agrees.

"Defiantly a great poll of tributes this year" he replies and a muscular boys picture pops up on the screen.

"Districts one, Granit, is defiantly this years top pick for winning" says Ceaser "But of coarse" he begins again and Finnick's picture is placed on the screen and his face brings a smile to mine then I remember its not really him "Finnick Odair is what everyone in the Capitol is talking about, he's definitely making quite a buzz" he adds and I stare at Finnicks picture before is rudely taken away and replaced with the hideously dressed men babbling on.

"Yes" says Caldius "He will definitely get many sponsors". Thats great. Thats really great because that means if he gets sick or hurt, they'll help him. This puts a reassuring smile on my face and the doors begin to open and the first chariot comes strolling out. They go in order of the districts so district one is first and their outfit is nothing special, then two, then three then... Finnick. Oh, Finnick, he looks amazing. The chariot comes strolling out and his quickly raises his hand to his mouth. It looks like hes trying to eat something and he looks ridiculous trying to smile. I look around at everyone else and they all have a small smile on their face for Finnick. He's still as funny as always. What ever was in his mouth seems to have disappeared and his full fledged smile is plastered across his face and just watching him makes me smile myself. He looks absolutely fantastic in his outfit. He looks like he's underwater, which is what the designer was probably going for. He did a great job. The chariots pull into their stations and the president pulls out a big speech about honor and pride and so much other garbage that I don't listen to then their off again. This time the camera shots a close up of their faces leaving the arena and I become excited to see Finnick's face up close again. The chariots leave in the order they came out so soon enough I see Finnick and hes just beaming. He notices the camera and looks straight to it and smiles then he mouths something. 'I love you' he says and everyones eyes in the square are shifted to me. Before I notice whats happening my hand is up to my mouth in shock and tears are streaming down my face.

"Oh Finn" I say quietly but it seems as though everyone heard me. "I love you too" I say reflexively but then realize thats not him. He cant hear me. I snap back into the cold reality and everyone in the courtyard has their eyes on me. I look around at their judgmental stairs and finally give up.

"Were going home" I tell my sister as the large screen goes white again. I grab her hand and quickly push through the crowd of people. Once we get far enough away I let the tears run down my face. I need my Finnick back, I cant live like this anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

**Finnick Odair**

We return back to the horse room and Samuel helps us back off the chariot.

"Great job out there guys" he says and switches off our suits. He leads us to a room in the back and we all talk.

"You did great" he says happily.

"It was your outfits, their amazing" says Dawn surprisingly.

"I loved the hand holding as well" adds Samuel. Oh dear. I was wasnt I? I was holding Dawn's hand the whole time.

Mags walks in after us and sits down.

"Okay. Now is the tribute training" she says "Now remember what I said, go to EVERY station okay?"

"Got it" I say and she smiles.

"You two looked great out there" she adds "You'll definitely get some great sponsers". That gives me more hope. I guess I did look good out there, and thats great I'll get good sponsers, better chance at coming home, not that I wouldnt have, I just wont do it on luck now. Samuel gives us some new clothes to change into and we do. He still has to help me but Im getting a lot better. There just plain black shirts with our district number on them and pants to match. Nothing special. We both come out and Mags is still sitting there.

"You also need to decide whether your going to have allies or not" says Mags. I dont know what I'll do. If I meet somone I feel I can trust, maybe but I dont know.

"I dont assume you want to be allies with each other since you want to be trained separately so.." she trails off.

"Well, its up to her" I say and look at Dawn.

"I dont feel we should be allies" she says so professionally.

"Fine" I say with attitude. I dont understand why she hates me so much. Well, she did tell me but other then that... A bell rings and were forced to leave our small rooms and stand with the other tributes. This is the first time it hits me. Its not just me and Dawn fighting over who gets to ge home, its 24 of us. I think of Annie, she must have loved when I said that. That way she knows Im still fighting for her.

Im standing beside Dawn and the district 5 girl who gave me a dirty look on the chariot. I refuse to look over at her in the event she snaps and just attacks me. 'One less to kill later' she would think. Theirs so many different kinds of people here. The large boy from district 7, a crazy looking boy from 6, the smallest girl Ive ever seen from 9, and a tall girl with the longest, brightest red hair from 2. A woman comes out wearing the same outfit were all wearing but hers dosent have a number. She explains how if we were to attack another tribute today, it would result in death. 'Good' I think. She goes on about which station does what and how important the weaker stations are to our survival then she dismiss's us and we all wander off. The first station I go to is the knot tying. Theres a man there that seams happy to have me come to his first. He shows me some simple knots and I ace those so he shows me some harder ones. I shake his hand and go off to anther station. I look around the space and my eyes stop on a beautiful weapon. A trident. Ive seen people fishing with these before but you have to be 16 before using them. I pick it up and its heavier then expected. I lift it up and down to try and get my hand used to the weight when the group of carers walks by.

"What a surprise, fishy boy is here with the trident" says a boy, I think hes from district 1. He much bigger In muscle mass then I am but he's not that much taller then I am. They all start laughing and he grabs the trident right from my hands.

"Watch how its done" he says arrogantly and he backs up and throws it at a dummy about 10 feet away and nails it right in the head. The other carrers start claping and yelling and he walks away with a smirk on his face. He walks in my direction and bumps right into my shoulder and whispers in my ear "You better watch out there cat fish" and starts laughing.

I go and pull the trident out from the dummy, which isn't embedded very far, and walk backward about 15 feet and balance myself. I hold it up to my shoulder and close my other eye to aim. 'Look where you want it to go Finnick' I think to myself. I take a large step and throw the trident at high speed toward the dummies stomach. It hits and it almost goes right through. Stuffing starts pooring out the back and the weapons trainer claps his hands in approval. I look back at the carrers and they look un thrilled.

"Wow, that was easy" I say sarcastically loud enough for them all to hear me and walk away with a smirk. Im incredibly proud with myself because if I hadn't have nailed that dummy, I could have just crawled into a body bag right then and pronounced myself dead. Now they know Im competition.

I go to some more stations, one about starting fires, another about camoflage and another about ediable plants and animals. They all give me knowledge of things I would have other wise not know. I learn how to shoot a bow, badly but I do, how to throw a knife, I was actually pretty good with that one, and one on how to make human snares. Its actually quite entertaining for a moment then I come back to the realization that their teaching us these thing to kill each other. When the day is over I had talked to the district 12 male and female, the disrict 7 girl and even made conversation with the lovable disrict 5 girl that I thought would attack me. I try not get to friendly with anyone though because the last thing I need is a friend in the arena. I seen the results of that before on previous games.

The girl that explained the stations comes back and leads us all to a large room with tables to eat our lunches. its a cafeteria style room. A line already begins to forum for food so I make no hesitation to join in it before it becomes to long. I grab a sandwich, of what I dont know, and place it on my tray. I grab an apple, a water bottle and two brownies and make my way to an empty table and sit down. I start to un wrap my sandwich, that I now know has assorted meats on it, when Dawn sits down opposite to me. She dosent have much on her tray, just some random fruits.

"So how did your day go?" I ask her taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Okay" she replies in a low tone.

"So did you make any friends?"I ask her slightly sarcastically because I could guess right now she didn't.

"I decided Im not going to have an ally" she says and I raise my eyebrows is surprise but Im not really. I could have told her that myself. She cant trust. If she cant trust me, her district partner, then she couldn't trust a complete stranger. I finish eating my sandwich and make the drastic mistake of looking over at the careers and I meet them at the same time they look at me. They all smile and someone says something and they all laugh.

"Huhh" I say exhailing loudly and turning back around. Dawn looks up.

"Its like their the cool kids" I tell her and she grins in reply.

"You know" I say backing my chair away from the table. I lean back in the chair on its back two legs and lift my legs up to the table and put my hands behind my head.

"I used to be quite the cool kid" I tell Dawn and she smiles but then quickly looks back down to her tray.

"Whats your problem?" I ask and smile but then suddenly the chair slips from the ground and I go falling backwards onto the ground. I close my eyes as I fall back and when I hit the ground all my breath is knocked from me. I hear everyone laughing and when I open my eyes the first face I see is the district one boys, laughing like a maniac.

"You better watch out there cat fish!" he says loud enough for everyone to hear and the laughter continues and I quickly roll off the chair onto the ground and sit up. The boy extends his hand to help me up but Im not that stupid so I stand up on my own. The laughter of everyone else has stopped but the careers continue as I pick my chair back up off the ground and sit back at my table. 'Well, that was embarrassing' I think to myself as I feel a hard slap on my back and turn around and the district one boy has his hand on me. I quickly sit up straighter as he and his partner make their way around the table and sits down beside Dawn as the other boy and girl sit down on my side and their all smiling.

"That was one nasty fall" says the district 1 boy wraping his arm around Dawn and she seems extremly nervous. She keeps her head looking down at the table, refusing to make eye contact. I can tell shes really scared. I don't answer him, just look at him while he taps his fingers on the table.

"Okay look" he says slamming the table and Dawn jumps. The other careers laugh at how vulnerable she seems but I keep a cold face. He takes his arm off her and rests both hands on the table.

"We all seen you during training" says the boy sitting beside me, continuing the district one boys sentence.

"And you obviously don't have a very strong looking" the girl sitting beside Dawn begins to say but pauses to play with a piece of Dawn's hair "partner." she says disgusted and drops her strand of hair.

I already know where this is going, they want me to join them but their just beating around the bush so they dont actually have to 'ask'. Well, its not going to work. Ive seen how these career groups work, once they've hunted down everyone else they either all turn on each other at once or the leader of the careers slowly starts offing everyone. Its really a horrible site seeing a career win. In district four we a small group of careers in training but nothing to the extreme of district 1 and 2. Its unbelievable how emotionless these kids are. One year they had to knock the kid out with a dart gun cause he went crazy, starting eating the dead tributes. That was one year I hope doesn't relive itself.

"Im not joining you" I say rising my eyebrows to show how ridiculous I think the idea is.

"But you obviously need to get home" says the girl sitting beside me in a whiney, pouty tone. I can tell she's spoiled. She moves closer to me, she reachs down and puts her hand on my leg and I try hard not to start laughing as she trys to put on her 'sexiest' face.

"And she obviously cant get you there" she adds gesturing towards a sacred and embarrassed Dawn and I finally had enough. I swip the girls arm off my leg and lean over the table to talk to the district one boy face to face.

"Look" I begin in a low tone throwing my hands down on the table "Im not joining your group of murderers and strippers. Im happy right here with my district partner so if you could just leave me alone it would be just" I says pausing for dramatic effect "fantastic" I say with a grin. He watches me as I talk and his emotionless face turns cold as he stands from the table. He leans in close how I am and has a devious looking smile on his face.

"Then Im gonna have lots fun killing you" he whispers and begins a small laugh. We stair down each other and Im pretty such hes try to suck out my soul with his cold green eyes when he suddenly slams his hands down on the table and Dawn jumps. Im pretty sure I did too because that scared the hell out of me. He puts a grin on his face as he stands back up straight and begins to walk away.

"Come on" he says and the other tributes stand up and follow him back to their table. As the tension slowly begins to fade away I sit back down in my chair and Dawn still stairs down at the table.

"Well that was exciting" I says quietly but still nothing.

"I think I have to go change my pants" I say trying not laugh and I see a smile break lose on her face as she looks up at me. I smile back and lean over to grab my tray of food back and I give her one of my brownies I had grabbed.

"Here" I say and she slowly reaches out to grab it and I give her a reassuring smile. I begin to eat the other one and she nibbles on the one I gave her and the intensity of what had just happened hits me like a brick wall. This isn't high school where you can stand up to the bullies and they cant do anything about it. This is the Hunger Games and because of the stunt I just pulled, I could end up dead a minute after it starts.

**Annie Cresta**

I sit on the edge of my bed, my legs dangling off the side. I slip into a fake world that Ive come to enjoy. One where all of my family is here and their all happy. One where me and Finn can be together. One where there is no games to tear us away from each other.

The thought just makes me more angry that my world isn't like this and I throw myself down on my bed. I exhale loudly as I lie myself down in my warm comfortable bed. I wish Finnick was here with me. He makes me feel safe and secure and right now I feel so exposed. Having to walk to school and back alone makes me so upset but I can complain. He must be in a horrible place in the Capitol. Having to deal with all those stupid people, he must hate it. I sit back up straight and look around my room. Its not as organized as it usually is. Papers from school are strung around the room. My clothes are throw in a pile on the floor as I have yet to do this weeks laundry. My shift from mess to mess in my room when they get caught on something.

I stand up from my bed and slowly make my way to my dresser. I lift some paper and throw them carelessly on the floor. Its a small box, about the size of my hand. Beautifully painted, an amazing work of art. I pick it up in my hand and carry it over to my bed and sit down with it. The colorful flowers brighten my mood even in the darkest of my days. This is the music box Finn gave to me on my birthday. Although Ive only owned it for four days I cherish it like an heirloom. I felt bad we he gave it to me. I must have costed him so much money. I almost didn't except it but that would have been rude, If he did spend the money on it for me and I didn't take it.

I listen to its beautiful music at least once a day, sometimes more. Ive never heard the song before and it intrigues me. If stays within four notes the whole song. The lyrics to the song painted on the lid, sometimes I sing along.

I open the lid and the song begins where it last left off. It high pitched tune fills my room and I place the box on my bed side table. I hum to it as I sit back down on my bed. My favorite part is the last to lines. I lie my head down on my pillow and watch the music box.

"Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true" I quietly sing. "Here is the place where I love you" I say holding back tears. I listen to the song as I slowly begin to fall asleep with the memories of Finnick running throughout my brain.

**Finnick Odair**

Lunch finally ends and were put into a room to wait for our turns to be judged by the game makers. 'What should I show them?' I think. 'I could us my trident throwing, I got pretty good at that'. Yes, that is what I will do' I think. First the distirct 1 boy walks in and only comes out about seven minutes later with a large grin on his face. Then the girl and then the district 2 boy and girl and then district 3. I sit beside Dawn and she sits there agian, twiddling her thumbs.

"You worried?" I ask her.

"Kinda' " she replys "I have no idea what Ill do"

"Why dont you just tell them some jokes?" I say with a smile and she dosent respond. I turn my face from a smile to serious.

"Look, I dont get what your problem is. Yeah, I get were going to have to kill everybody here but..." I trail off. I dont know how to really finish that statment. I mean we will have to but...

I slouch back down in my chair and finally somone calls my name. I get up and start to walk away and turn back and see Dawn. She looks up at me and her cat like eyes say everything. I can tell, just from looking at her, she knows she wont get home. Thats why shes so upset. Because you can tell yourself your going to come home all you want but, deep down, she knows she wont. I become upset as I walk into the judging room. I walk over to the viewing area.

"Finnick Odair, district 4" I tell them and they node and write something down on a paper.

I look around at all the training stations and walk over to the knot tying station and pick up a long peice of rope. I sit down and play with it a while. I tie some knots and put the ends of the ropes into holes I made with the other and Im left with a large mess.

"No, no" I whisper and undo all the knots. I try agian and this time Im succesful. Im left with a noose. I pick it up and show it to the game makers and they look un pleased. They want action. I put the noose on the floor and grab a knife. I walk away about 8 feet from a dummy and throw it, cutting the string it hangs from. 'Good shot' I think as I walk back over, pick it up and tie the noose around its neck and hang it from the celling. I walk back about 25 feet from the dummy and grab the trident. 'You can nail this Finnick' I think to myself. This is the farthest Ive ever tried to throw the trident and I hope I can make it. I put one foot back and balance the trident on my shoulder. I close my eye to try and aim. 'Look where you want it to go' I think. I take two large steps and throw the trident through the air. Before I can even blink it hits the dummy, straight in the neck and its body falls to the ground and the stuffing from the inside of it is everywhere. I look back at the game makers and they look a little more pleased. 'What should I do now?' I walk over to the other weapons a stair at them. Theres a sword, an axe, a bow with arrows and other deadly looking weapons that I dont remember the names of. I pick up the bow. I learned to use it but not that well but I have nothing else to show them I walk for a target. I put an arrow up to the bow and pull it back. 'Keep your arms locked' I remember the woman instructor telling me. 'Rest the arrow near your face to aim' she told me. I do what she said and aim for the dummies torso because I would probably miss its head. I release the bow and it goes flying to the dummy and hits the second ring on the target and Im impressed. Thats the best Ive done but its not great. I look up at the game makers for their expression but they have obviously seen better today. I bite my lip as I try to think of another thing to do. This is my life Im trying to sell off to these people so I have to give them a good show. I go over to the survival stations and make a quick fire,they probably haven't seen any of the careers to do that today so thats good. All I can think about is how I nailed that dummy with the trident. 'Nothing I learned can impress them after I threw that trident' So theres nothing really more I can impress them with so I walk for the door.

"Nothing eles?" I hear a voice say in the backround.

"No sorry" I say sarcastically as I turn backaround "I dont have any other amazing talents that you can make sure I wont be able to use in the arena" and walk back to the door. I turn myself back around to face the game makers and give them I childish wave, moving all of my fingers and shooting them a Capitol sized smile as I leave.

The day ends and we all return back to the hotel and I try not to think about Annie. I miss her. Her beautiful hair, her big green eyes, that perfume she uses that I just love. I walk out of the elavator and run straight to my room and close the door.

"Finnick" I hear someone say as I close the door. I lean myself up against the door so no one can open it. I just want to be alone for a while, but obviously thats not the case in the Capitol. I look back down at my wrist and play with the beads on Annie's braclet.

"For you" I whisper.


End file.
